The present invention relates generally to abrasive articles and more particularly to an abrasive article with improved packing density and mechanical properties and a method for making this article.
Abrasive articles are typically used in various industries to machine work pieces by cutting, lapping, grinding, or polishing. The use of abrasive articles for machining spans a wide industrial scope from optics industries, automotive plant repair industries to metal fabrication industries. In each of these examples, manufacturing facilities use abrasives to remove bulk material and/or affect surface characteristics of products (e.g., planarity, surface roughness).
Manufacturers of rough grinding abrasive articles are constantly challenged to make abrasive articles that meet higher performance requirements specified by their customers. Manufacturers typically try to meet such high performance requirements by packing more abrasive mix into the articles and attaining improvements in strength to withstand aggressive grinding conditions. Current approaches in forming these abrasive articles have limited extent to which manufacturers can increase density of abrasives and improve strength. In particular, these approaches do not adequately process the materials used to produce the abrasive mix that forms the abrasive articles. Inadequate processing of the materials typically results in abrasive mixes having abrasive grains interspersed with a significant amount of loose bond content. The nature of the loose bond material lowers manufacturers' ability to pack more mix in the same volume for the purpose of increasing packing density. In addition, the loose bond acts as a weak link in the abrasive article, thus making the abrasive product weaker. As a result, it is difficult to meet higher performance requirements.